Reports: JPMC doctors no longer allowed to prescribe birth control

Friday

Mar 28, 2014 at 5:34 AM

Some Bartlesville women are taking issue with a recent directive prohibiting doctors affiliated with Jane Phillips Medical Center from prescribing contraceptives, saying the decision is not only an affront to women but could have an economic impact by driving patients away from local doctors.

Some Bartlesville women are taking issue with a recent directive prohibiting doctors affiliated with Jane Phillips Medical Center from prescribing contraceptives, saying the decision is not only an affront to women but could have an economic impact by driving patients away from local doctors.

Confidential sources told the Examiner-Enterprise this week that a meeting was held Wednesday to inform local doctors of gynecology and obstetrics that they can no longer prescribe contraceptives of any kind — if they are to be used as birth control.

Sources say that while doctors can no longer prescribe birth control, they were given the go-ahead to prescribe contraceptives for reasons other than birth control — a solution that at least one local woman rejects.

"I have spoken to my doctor about my birth control options," the woman, who requested anonymity, told the E-E. "I was told that my physician has been instructed that they can no longer write prescriptions for birth control as birth control. This effects me because I take birth control as birth control. There are other ways to receive birth control, for example headaches, cramps, excessive bleeding — but I have none of those symptoms.

"I was given the impression that birth control for those reasons would be overlooked, but I have no desire to stretch the truth or fabricate a reason. This is between me and my physician. This is about MY health care. Why should we have to commit borderline insurance fraud because I want to maintain my health care?"

When contacted Friday, one OB-GYN’s office confirmed that doctors had recently been told they could not prescribe birth control, but personnel appeared unsure if the policy was in effect immediately.

Only one local OB-GYN who is not affiliated with the hospital, Robert D. Oliver MD, an OB-GYN located at 226 SE DeBell Ave. in Bartlesville, remains unaffected by the measure.

Another Bartlesville woman, who asked to not be named, said she fears the new policy could force her and women like her to look elsewhere for health care.

"I heard about the change in policy on Wednesday night so Thursday I called my OB-GYN to find out if, in fact, they would no longer be offering IUD (Intrauterine Device) services," she said. "I was told that at this point the information was still very new and they did not know what would be happening in the future, but for now they weren’t accepting any new IUD appointments.

"After talking with other ladies I know about their situations I decided to call my family practice doctor to see if they offered IUD services and was told that they did not. They let me know that there was only one OB-GYN in town not affiliated with the hospital that could do IUD services.

"I personally find it infuriating that restrictions on birth control, and especially IUDs, are being forced upon our doctors. My health care decisions should be up to me and not based on the religious beliefs of others. Those decisions should be made based upon what is best for me and my family.

"I do not think a religiously affiliated hospital system is good for Bartlesville. We have one hospital and when that hospital refuses services that almost half the population wants, due to its religious beliefs, it forces money to leave Bartlesville.

"This is not just an issue of women’s health care rights but it is also an economic issue for our town. Refusing birth control doesn’t stop women from getting it, but it takes patients away from our local doctors and hands money directly to Owasso and Tulsa, money that should be staying here in Bartlesville."

The directive was reportedly issued by Ascension Health, a company that acquired St. John Health System which owns Jane Phillips Medical Center, along with Pawhuska City Hospital, Nowata Hospital and Sedan City Hospital in Sedan, Kan., in April 2013.

When contacted Friday, JPMC officials referred the E-E to Cheena Pazzo, director of St. John Health System Community and Physician Relations.

Pazzo offered the following statement via email:

"Consistent with all Catholic health care organizations, St. John Health System operates in accordance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Facilities."

At the time of this publication, there has been no response to questions presented to Pazzo regarding whether the policy is in place at all Ascension Health facilities, if contraceptives can be prescribed for uses other than birth control or whether the policy is effective immediately.

According to online reports, Ascension Health owns more than 113,000 facilities and has 150,000 associations with more than 1,500 locations in 22 states and the District of Columbia. The company was established in November 1999 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo.

The company has published literature indicating it is decidedly against anything that would cause the death of a fetus.